Like the resurrected superhero himself, movie and TV franchise The Crow refuses to die and is making another comeback soon in a new film telling the original story once more. Based on the comic books by James O’Barr, who is also working on this reboot as a consultant, The Crow is about Eric Draven, a rock star who seeks vengeance from beyond the grave after being brutally murdered by a gang of criminals.

Casting Draven has been a bit of a headache, with various actors dropping in and out of the role. At one point Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) seemed to be firmly attached, but later dropped out in order to star in an adaptation of Paradise Lost for the director of the original version of The Crow, Alex Proyas (a poor choice, it turned out, as Paradise Lost was later axed completely). After that there were various actors in talks for the role, including James McAvoy, Tom Hiddleston and Alexander Skarsgård, before Luke Evans (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) was finally cast in the role.

With its vengeful vigilante chosen, it seems that Relativity Media is now moving on to gather the rest of the cast. Film blog Schmoes Know, which has been reporting a lot of big casting rumors recently, now claims to have more insider information from a source code-named “the Phantom.” According to this source, The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus is currently the top choice to play a supporting character called “James.”

There’s no one by that name in the comic books or the original film and it’s not uncommon for studios to use code names for characters during casting, so if this rumor is true Reedus could be playing just about anyone. Given the kind of roles he is best known for, however, Reedus seems like a good fit for T-Bird, the leader of the gang that murders Eric Draven and leaves his fiancée beaten and raped. In the 1994 version, T-Bird was played by David Patrick Kelly.

Could Norman Reedus take on the role of T-Bird?

As one of the original characters introduced on The Walking Dead, Daryl has also grown to be one of the most popular and also one of the most resilient thanks to his virtually unfazeable personality, his air of effortless cool and the fact that he owns the best weapon in the show, a crossbow (silent at long range with retrievable ammo – perfect for the zombie apocalypse). He’s certainly popular enough among comic book and horror fans to be a great pick for The Crow.

It’s difficult to gauge whether or not this rumor is true without knowing exactly who the source for this information is, and even if it is true there’s a chance that Reedus might just turn down the role. Schmoes Know has broken a lot of casting exclusives recently, for major films like Batman vs. Superman and Fantastic Four, so as those films head into production and the casts become fixed we should start to get an idea of how reliable these scoops are.

If Reedus is being sought then it seems likely that “James” is quite a prominent character in the film, whether friend or foe. If he does turn out to be an ally then Eric Draven probably shouldn’t trust him anyway; we all remember what happened in Blade II.

The Crow doesn’t have a release date yet, but we’ll keep you posted on any further details.